A Carved Bamboo Figure of “18 Luohan”

Size：16.5cm（H）

According to Buddhist legends, the eighteen arhats are immortal Dharmapalas which originally comprises sixteen arhats and two venerable ones.  Popular in the Tang Dynasty, the sixteen arhats later became eighteen ones towards the end of the Tang Dynasty and became popular in the Sung Dynasty . The emergence of the eighteen arhats is probably attributable to the auspicious meaning of the number “eighteen” in Chinese tradition.